This thread is blowing me away, Im starting to see things I had not understood before. I know Jesus is a created being but at the same time He is also God to me because everything that was made was made by Jesus.
I always thought Jesus was inferior to God the Father because God the Father always existed whereas Christ was created.
I’m starting to see that the entire bible is about Jesus, is it right to say that it was Jesus who spoke to Moses from the burning bush? Or was it a messenger sent from God who was speaking ? Was it Jesus who said ( I am that I am ) or was it a messenger from God ?
Would it be right to say that God the Father and Jesus are totally equal in knowledge and power ?
Exo 3:2 And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.
v. 3 Then Moses said, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn."
v. 4 So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look,
God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am."
Rick, when you read this passage down in verse 4 you can see that it was indeed God, the Son who spoke to Moses from the bush.
Exo 3:14 And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.' "
Here is plainly states again that it was the Son who spoke to Moses. Now He spoke and appeared, in human form (accept the one time He showed Moses His glorious backside in the cleft of the rock) quite a few times in the OT. He is the Spokesman/Voice for the Father.
John 5:37 And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.
The Son is what the Father brought forth 'of Himself' to be over this creation. I think it's like the Father just produced/created more of Himself, in the Being of the Son (with form and voice), to use as God of this creation. They are one (not separate), but the Son is the part of the Father that does the work in this world.
John 10:30 I and My Father are one."
Christ said you can not see or hear the Father, so He made the Son to be His Spokesman and the image of Himself.
John 14:9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
v. 7 "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him."
The Son was equal to the Father in that He is God and the very essence of the Father.
Php 2:6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
But He is not the Father and clearly states the Father was greater.
John 14:28 You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.' If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I.
John 13:16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.
John 10:29 My Father, who has given them to Me,
is greater than all;
Jesus was not equal in the sense that there is 2 distinct Gods. No, they are one as in completely united in every way, singleness of heart. But the Son was brought forth by the Father, and His purpose is to do the will of His Father for this creation.
John 5:30 I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.
John 14:31 But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.
The Father first brought forth the Son and then "through Him" created this universe/world "for Him" and put Him to be God and ruler over it. All for the Son, but by the will and power of the Father.
Col 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
v. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
v. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
mercy, peace and love
Kat